| Cynoglossum officinale | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Boraginales |
| Family: | Boraginaceae |
| Genus: | Cynoglossum |
| Species: | C. officinale |
| Binomial name | |
| Cynoglossum officinale | |
Cynoglossum officinale [1] [2] (houndstongue, houndstooth, dog's tongue, gypsy flower, and rats and mice due to its smell) is a herbaceous plant of the family Boraginaceae.
It can be either annual or biennial. Leaves are greyish and softly haired, lanceolate to oblong. Reddish-purple funnel-shaped flowers bloom between May and September.
The plant owes its common and scientific name to the long greyish leaves that are reminiscent of a dog's tongue and were once given as a remedy for dog bites. [3]
Found in most parts of Europe, and also North America, where it was accidentally introduced [4] including in British Columbia, where it is designated a noxious weed under the British Columbia Weed Control Act. [5] It lives in wet places, sand dunes, waste land and hedges.
Houndstongue may be pollinated by bees, and may also self-pollinate.
The name "houndstongue" (and the Latin genus Cynoglossum) comes from the roughness of the leaf.
In 1725, houndstooth was presented in the family dictionary, Dictionaire oeconomique, as part of a cure for madness. [6] In that book, madness was viewed as "a distemper, not only of the understanding, but also of the reason and memory, proceeding from a cold, which drys up everything it meets with that is humid in the brain." [6] To cure madness, Dictionaire oeconomique noted:
You must shave the head of the unhappy patient, and after that, apply to it a pidgeon, or a hen quite alive; or else bathe it with some brandy distilled with rosemary, elder, hounds tooth, and the roots of bugloss, or with the oyl of elder flowers: they rub their heads and wash their feet with a decoction of the flowers of camomile, melilot, balm gentle and laurel; they put into their noses the juice of comfrey, with either two or three spoonfuls of honey-water, broth, or white-wine, wherein wormwood and sage are infus'd ; or else they do for five and twenty days together, mix with their broth in the morning, halt a dram of the ashes of tortoise, and they put into the pot bugloss, borage, with a pinch of rosemary to season it. [6]
In the 1830s, houndstooth was known in France to be made into an emollient and diuretic for daily use in inflammatory diseases, especially of the urinary organs. [7] To prepare as a diuretic, the houndstooth leaves were mashed, and then boiled in water to extract oils, volatile organic compounds, and other chemical substances. [7] The mix could be sweetened with liquorice to create Ptisan of Dog's-grass. [7] After decoction, the herbal tea was taken internally a cupful at a time. [7] In 1834, the Hospital of Paris provided a formula of 2/3 ss—J to Oij of water for houndstooth tea. [7] By the end of the 1830s, doctors in England were using houndstooth as an antiaphrodisiac to combat venereal excesses. [8]
Herbalists use the plant for piles, lung diseases, persistent coughs, baldness, sores, and ulcers but the effectiveness of all these uses is not supported by any scientific evidence. [9]
In 1891, the U.S. state of Michigan identified houndstooth, along with flea-bane, rag weed, burdock, cockle-bur, and stickseed, as some of the worst weeds in the state. [10]
Cynoglossum officinale contains tumorigenic pyrrolizidine alkaloids. [11] It is toxic to cows and is especially dangerous to pasture owners. [4]
Jacobaea vulgaris, syn. Senecio jacobaea, is a very common wild flower in the family Asteraceae that is native to northern Eurasia, usually in dry, open places, and has also been widely distributed as a weed elsewhere.
Symphytum is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae, known by the common name comfrey. There are 59 recognized species. Some species and hybrids, particularly S. officinale, Symphytum grandiflorum, and S. × uplandicum, are used in gardening and herbal medicine. They are not to be confused with Andersonglossum virginianum, known as wild comfrey, another member of the borage family.
Echium plantagineum, commonly known as purple viper's-bugloss or Patterson's curse, is a species of the genus Echium native to western and southern Europe, northern Africa, and southwestern Asia. It has also been introduced to Australia, South Africa, and United States, where it is an invasive weed. Due to a high concentration of pyrrolizidine alkaloids, it is poisonous to grazing livestock, especially those with simple digestive systems, such as horses.
Borage, also known as starflower, is an annual herb in the flowering plant family Boraginaceae. It is native to the Mediterranean region, and has naturalized in many other locales.
Tussilago farfara, commonly known as coltsfoot, is a plant in the tribe Senecioneae in the family Asteraceae, native to Europe and parts of western and central Asia. The name "tussilago" is derived from the Latin tussis, meaning cough, and ago, meaning to cast or to act on. It has had uses in traditional medicine, but the discovery of toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the plant has resulted in liver health concerns.
Echium vulgare, known as viper's bugloss and blueweed, is a species of flowering plant in the borage family Boraginaceae. It is native to most of Europe and western and central Asia and it occurs as an introduced species in north-eastern North America, south-western South America and the South and North Island of New Zealand. The plant root was used in ancient times as a treatment for snake or viper bites. If eaten, the plant is toxic to horses and cattle through the accumulation of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the liver.
Eupatorium cannabinum, commonly known as hemp-agrimony, or holy rope, is a herbaceous plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a robust perennial native to Europe, NW. Africa, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is cultivated as an ornamental and occasionally found as a garden escape in scattered locations in China, the United States and Canada. It is extremely attractive to butterflies, much like buddleia.
Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs), sometimes referred to as necine bases, are a group of naturally occurring alkaloids based on the structure of pyrrolizidine. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids are produced by plants as a defense mechanism against insect herbivores. More than 660 PAs and PA N-oxides have been identified in over 6,000 plants, and about half of them exhibit hepatotoxicity. They are found frequently in plants in the Boraginaceae, Asteraceae, Orchidaceae and Fabaceae families; less frequently in the Convolvulaceae and Poaceae, and in at least one species in the Lamiaceae. It has been estimated that 3% of the world’s flowering plants contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Honey can contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids, as can grains, milk, offal and eggs. To date (2011), there is no international regulation of PAs in food, unlike those for herbs and medicines.
Ageratum conyzoides is native to Tropical America, especially Brazil, and is an invasive weed in many other regions. It is an herb that is 0.5–1 m. high, with ovate leaves 2–6 cm long, and flowers are white to mauve.
Cynoglossum amabile, the Chinese hound's tongue or Chinese forget-me-not, is a species of flowering plant in the family Boraginaceae, native to Asia. A hardy annual growing to 50 cm (20 in), it has hairy leaves and cymes of sky-blue flowers in late summer. This plant, closely related to the common forget-me-not of temperate gardens, is also grown as an ornamental. In cultivation in the UK it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit..
Emilia sonchifolia, also known as lilac tasselflower or cupid's shaving brush, is tropical flowering species of tasselflower in the sunflower family. It is widespread in tropical regions around the world, apparently native to Asia and naturalized in Africa, Australia, the Americas, and various oceanic islands.
Farfugium japonicum is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, also known as leopard plant, green leopard plant or tractor seat plant. It is native to streams and seashores of Japan, where it is called tsuwabuki (石蕗).
Symphytum officinale is a perennial flowering plant in the family Boraginaceae. Along with thirty four other species of Symphytum, it is known as comfrey. To differentiate it from other members of the genus Symphytum, this species is known as common comfrey or true comfrey. Other English names include boneset, knitbone, consound, and slippery-root. It is native to Europe, growing in damp, grassy places. It is locally frequent throughout Ireland and Britain on river banks and ditches. It occurs elsewhere, including North America, as an introduced species and sometimes a weed. The flowers are mostly visited by bumblebees. Internal or long-term topical use of comfrey is discouraged due to its strong potential to cause liver toxicity.
Eupatorium fortunei is a plant species in the family Asteraceae native from Asia where it is rare in the wild but commonly cultivated. The white to reddish colored flowers and herbage smell like lavender when crushed. In China the plants are used to make fragrant oils.
Heliotropium indicum, commonly known as Indian heliotrope, Indian turnsole is an annual, hirsute plant that is a common weed in waste places and settled areas. It is native to Asia. It is widely used in native medicine in Tamil Nadu, India.
Riddelliine is a chemical compound classified as a pyrrolizidine alkaloid. It was first isolated from Senecio riddellii and is also found in a variety of plants including Jacobaea vulgaris, Senecio vulgaris, and others plants in the genus Senecio.
Andersonglossum virginianum, known as southern wild comfrey, is a flowering plant in the borage family native to North America. It is also sometimes called blue houndstongue.
Cynoglossum germanicum, the green houndstongue, is a flowering plant species, in the family Boraginaceae, which is native to Europe.
Echites umbellatus is a flowering climber, belonging to subfamily Apocynoideae of the family Apocynaceae and has the English common name devil's potato. It was first described in 1760 by Dutch botanist, Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin. The species grows in parts of Florida, Tabasco, Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, Honduras, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the Colombian islands in the Western Caribbean.
